


Recovery

by Vampiricalthorns



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Car Accidents, Fluff, M/M, Mortal AU, Temporary Loss of Hearing, Temporary loss of sight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 21:16:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10625307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampiricalthorns/pseuds/Vampiricalthorns
Summary: It wasn’t supposed to go like this. They were supposed to enjoy their day going to a nice café before watching a movie at the local movie theatre. Nico was supposed to meet him outside the café at 1 pm after checking in on his sister, Hazel, who was six months pregnant with twins. He wasn’t supposed to get a call from the hospital at 1:15 telling him that his fiancé was in the hospital because some asshole had accidentally run over him with his car.He wasn’t supposed to immediately run back to his car and arrive at the hospital at 1:45. He wasn’t supposed to let a nurse show his way to where Nico was. He wasn’t supposed to see his boyfriend hooked up to so many machines, with an IV in his arm and an oxygen mask. He wasn’t supposed to sit down beside the raven-haired man and in vain try to wake him up. But he did. It happened. All of it did.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theinsidiouscinnamonroll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theinsidiouscinnamonroll/gifts).



It wasn’t supposed to go like this. They were supposed to enjoy their day going to a nice café before watching a movie at the local movie theatre. Nico was supposed to meet him outside the café at 1 pm after checking in on his sister, Hazel, who was six months pregnant with twins. He wasn’t supposed to get a call from the hospital at 1:15 telling him that his fiancé was in the hospital because some asshole had accidentally run over him with his car.

He wasn’t supposed to immediately run back to his car and arrive at the hospital at 1:45. He wasn’t supposed to let a nurse show his way to where Nico was. He wasn’t supposed to see his boyfriend hooked up to so many machines, with an IV in his arm and an oxygen mask. He wasn’t supposed to sit down beside the raven-haired man and in vain try to wake him up. But he did. It happened. All of it did.

~*~

After what feels like hours, a doctor enters the room. He recognises her. It’s Doctor Alena Mackinnon, the doctor who had helped Annabeth through her first childbirth, which had been complicated, even for Will, who had just finished his first year as a professional doctor at a local hospital in town.

She gives him a small, gentle smile and sits down on the other chair next to Nico’s bed. “How are you feeling, Will?”

“This day was supposed to be relaxed and nice. Nico was just checking up on his sister, who’s pregnant with twins before we would go out and eat lunch at a nice café before watching a movie at the theatre. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Please tell me that Nico didn’t do anything wrong. It wasn’t his fault, was it?” Will says, his hands desperately grasping Nico’s bruised right hand.

She shakes her head. “No, it wasn’t his fault at all. It was a drunk driver. He’s still in the ER. But we got Nico moved up here quickly since his injuries were far more severe.”

Will swallows, his throat feeling tight. “Do you know how bad he’s injured? I can’t see any injuries other than the bruises. Did – did he hit his head?”

“Yeah. We won’t know the full extent of his injuries until he wakes up, but we suspect that he may have gone into some sort of shock. He should wake up soon. He doesn’t have a head injury that would send him into a coma,” She says calmly. “Do you want to stay here for the night? I’ll ask a nurse to put in another bed.”

Will nods gratefully and she stands up before walking out of the room. He leans over and places a careful kiss on Nico’s forehead, making sure to not pull any tubes and such away from their places. He then remembers the reality of what’s happening and he takes out his phone before one after one calling their friends to inform them of what has happened.

Two hours later and two coffee cups for Will later, Nico finally wakes up disorientated. It feels strange, Nico realises. He can swear that his eyes are open, but all he can see is darkness. He also can’t hear anything at all. But he can feel. Two hands are gripping his. Even without seeing, he knows who it is.

“Will.”

He panics when he can’t hear his own voice, but in response, the hands holding his tightens, so he assumes that Will has heard him.

He suddenly feels a lot more. There’s some sort of mask over his mouth and nose. There’s a plastic tube of some sort running from the elbow on his right arm half-way down towards his wrist before leaving his skin. There’s some sort of clamps on several of his fingers. They’re uncomfortable and Nico wants to take them off.

He tries to remember what had happened. He had been at Hazel’s place and decided to walk to the café he was supposed to eat at with Will before … he can’t remember at the moment. All he can bring back is a loud noise, being thrown to the ground and pain – excruciating pain.

Will’s hands leave his hands and he panics. There’s not much he can do apart from whimpering. He’s alone again. Just like he had before he met his fiancé. After what feels like an eternity, but has probably only been a few minutes, Will’s hands return to his, but this time it feels different. Sharper. Almost as if his sense of feeling has been stronger. It probably is, since he can’t hear or see at the moment.

Will’s finger suddenly starts moving in the palm of his left hand. Nico recognises these shapes. They’re engraved into his mind. They’re letters, Nico realises. Slowly forming words Nico recognises. _I love you._

His throat is dry, but he manages to whisper, “I love you too.”

Or, at least, that’s what he thinks he says. He isn’t quite sure. The silence is overwhelming him. It’s tense and combined with the darkness, it almost feels like he’s in a constant panic attack, just without the overwhelming of fear that normally squeezes his chest tight to the point where he can’t breathe.

He’s brought back to reality when Will’s finger starts moving in his palm again, creating new words. _Can you hear me?_

Nico shakes his head, and he can basically feel Will’s disappointment and sadness.

_Can you see me?_

Nico shakes his head again, and something wet hits his wrist. Will’s crying, and with the increased pressure on his eyes, Nico’s sure that he’s about to start crying too.

Suddenly, he feels Will’s warm breath on his lips, and he sucks in a breath right before their lips touch. Nico relaxes; this is familiar to him. It feels as if Will’s healing him through the kiss.

When Will pulls away only a couple seconds later, Nico’s already out of breath. That’s unusual. He can usually hold his breath for at least a minute at a time, but now he can’t. He takes a deep breath before saying, “What happened?”

_Car accident_ , Will spells out on his palm. _You hit your head._

Oh, that was what is was. He hit his head in the accident. That’s probably why he can’t hear or see right now. The thought makes tears form in his eyes. It probably hasn’t even been 12 hours, but he already misses the sound of his boyfriend’s voice.

His throat hurts, but he still attempts to speak. “When can I go home?” He’s sure that it comes out unclear, but he hopes that Will will understand him.

_We don’t know. Maybe tomorrow,_ Will answers, and it sparks hope somewhere deep inside Nico. Maybe his injuries aren’t that bad. Maybe he can go home and enjoy life with Will. He’s probably going to get his sight and hearing back.

He can feel sleep tugging at his consciousness, but there’s one more question he needs the answer to.

“Will I ever be able to hear your voice and see your face again?”

He falls asleep before Will can spell out the answer.

~*~

Will opens the door to their apartment again one week later. It isn’t the first time he’s been here since the accident, but it’s the first time Nico’s with him. His boyfriend’s steps are uncertain and careful, and his long, pale fingers grips Will’s tan hand. Nico’s afraid to let him go. Afraid to be alone because he no longer can manoeuvre his way through the apartment or the outside world without help.

During the week they spent in the hospital, Nico slowly adjusted his voice level to be like it usually was before the accident.

Will looks down when he feels Nico’s eyes on him and his heart breaks just a little more. Where there before was dark brown eyes with swirls of purple and gold filled with life, there’s only the colour of burnt melted chocolate left. And it’s dull, without life, because right now, Nico’s eyes have no purpose.

“The doctor said that I would get my sight back slowly. Probably within two or three months,” Nico says, his quiet voice echoing through the almost empty apartment. “But she didn’t say anything about my hearing.”

Will takes Nico’s hand and starts spelling out words. _She said that hearing is harder to get back after a head injury than sight, but she guesses that you will get some of it back within a year_. It takes several minutes to get the message across, with some of the words being repeated several times.

Nico nods and takes a trying step towards in the direction of the couch, tightening his grip on Will’s hand until he feels that Will’s right beside him and not behind him again.

With Will right beside him, he keeps taking steps in the direction of the couch. He already knows the way because it’s in almost a straight line in from the front door. Everything is going great until-

CRASH! Nico lets out a string of Italian curses when he stumbles into the couch, dragging Will with him. Why hadn’t Will warned him? But then Nico realises that Will probably has tried to warn him by talking. Well, that wasn’t working anymore. They just had to acknowledge that now.

Somehow, he manages to sit up and untangle himself from Will. He feels his boyfriend sit down next to him, grabbing his palm. _I’m so sorry! I tried telling you that the couch was there, but I forgot!_

Nico sighs. “I guess it’s fine. You forgot. It’s not the same anymore. I can’t see or hear. We just gotta live with it. We’ll figure it out.”

Nico’s throat hurts from speaking so much, but he ignores it in favour of letting his hands find Will’s face. He pulls them together, kissing the soft lips of his boyfriend.

When they pull away a couple minutes later, the first thing that comes to Nico’s mind is. “Week 1 of no sight and hearing at home.”

His hand has moved to Will’s chest, and he can feel the vibrations of Will’s laugh.

~*~

Three weeks since he got home, and Nico can move through the apartment without problems. He’s learned how to read basic Braille, and they put up stickers with either raised letters or Braille writing on the doors in the apartment, showing Nico which door leads to what. It had proved to be a wise choice after Nico had ended up in the storage room rather than the bathroom in the middle of the night several times.

He’s also getting more fine-tuned to learning when Will comes home from work. Since his hearing and sight is still completely gone, he can feel it in the floor or the wall when the front door opens and closes.

His days are boring and empty. There’s not much he can do without two of the senses he’s been the most dependent on. He knows how to play the piano, and he enjoys drawing, cooking and watching shows on Netflix. But all of those require either sight or hearing.

A vibration in the floor shakes Nico out of his thoughts. Will’s home. He quickly finds the closest wall and makes his way towards the front door, laughing a bit when Will’s strong hands pick him up and moves around in a circle, giving Nico the illusion of flying. He’s lost weight since the accident, and Will has no trouble picking him up anymore.

Will’s hand finds his palm. _How was your day? I know it’s boring to not do anything right now, but you’ll get your sight back soon. I know you will._

Nico doesn’t really believe Will until one morning a month later. He wakes up like usual and opens his eyes. He gasps loudly and moves over to see a patch of light under a patch of a colour he thinks is white. He already knows it’s Will.

“Will,” Nico tries to wake up his boyfriend. He has no idea what time it is, but he knows that it is a Saturday, and his boyfriend isn’t up yet. So it’s probably the crack of dawn, knowing his luck. Nico can’t even find it in himself to be grumpy about it.

“Will.”

He tries again. He has no idea how loudly he’s speaking, but judging by the way Will jumps, he guesses he’s been talking pretty loudly. It’s pretty weird to see a light spot he guesses is Will’s hair suddenly move up and away from the white patch Nico knows is the blanket.

“I can see, Will,” Nico says. “I can see!”

Will grabs Nico’s hand. _Can you see my face?_

Nico shakes his head. “Only colours. And it’s very faint. There’s almost no difference between your hair and the blanket.”

_Of course. I should have expected that. I didn’t guess that you would get your sight back right out of the blue. But I’m glad you can at least see something,_ Will spells out before his lips meet Nico’s. Nico kisses back happily, seeing a familiar patch of blonde which he recognises as Will’s hair. Two months after the accident, and he’s not completely in the dark anymore.

~*~

Nico might be 22 years old, but he’s never felt as happy as he does now, three and a half month after the accident. His sight is still blurry, but finally he’s able to draw again. He’s really missed it. Now he actually has something to fill the days with when Will isn’t there to spend it with him.

Something heavy is being put down on the kitchen table where Nico is drawing and he jumps, drawing a harsh line right across the drawing. Normally he would have glared up at the person ruining his sketch, but when he directs his gaze towards Will his anger disappears.

Will is sitting there, his head in his hands. Nico immediately puts down the pencil and kneels down on the floor next to his fiancé. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Did something happen at the hospital?”

Will looks up and smiles slightly, though Nico can easily see that it’s fake. His boyfriend raises his hands and starts signing, all the words he doesn’t know being spelt out with the hand alphabet. Nico doesn’t understand too much sign language, but then again the both of them had just started learning it a month ago.

_There seems to be going on some type of sickness with the newborns. We lost one today. It was really hard for the parents. I was the one who talked to them. They had tried to get pregnant for over five years. This was their first child. It upset me a lot when I had to go tell them that their daughter had died after having lived for only 36 hours._

Nico stands up and hugs Will tightly. “You can’t always save everyone, Will. And you can’t always use healing powers on newborn babies. You once told me that their hearts wouldn’t be able to handle big amounts of magic. And some people just aren’t meant to live. It may seem harsh, but think if she had survived. Which sicknesses would she have to live with for the rest of her life? And besides, she’s probably getting reborn again. Maybe even to the same family.” His throat hurts from talking so much, but he ignores it in favour of feeling Will relax slightly.

He doesn’t need to hear Will’s reply to know that he’s more at peace with the girl’s passing. It’s always like this when Will loses a patient. Not that it happens too often, but it’s not like it doesn’t happen. Will works in the ER section after all, with occasional trips to the Maternity Ward or where serious operations were performed. Will had stayed overnight at the hospital in a complicated surgery more than once.

He looks down at Will again, seeing the small smile on his fiancé’s face. He’s sure that it’s safe to joke with him now.

“You ruined my drawing. It was the one drawing that will cure cancer and now it’s ruined.”

~*~

It’s been another month and Nico’s eyesight is completely back. His hearing, however, is still absent. Or, almost absent. At random times of the time when he’s home alone, he can sometimes hear a sort of buzzing sound in his ears, but it always goes away when he makes any sound at all, like putting his plate in the sink before washing it.

He’s told Will and naturally, he’s happy. Nico knows that Will misses having a normal conversation with him. He understands, of course. He misses hearing Will’s voice. He had never thought that he would miss hearing Will’s terrible singing voice, but now he does. He doesn’t even remember what it sounds like. The mere thought makes him sad.

He’s lost in his thoughts until he looks down at the drawing of a girl he’s working on. A wet spot is right above the girl’s right shoulder and Nico realises he’s crying. He stands up and walks over to the couch and sits down before letting sobs run through his body. All this is making him overly emotional. He truly misses Will’s voice. He hasn’t heard it for four and a half months.

He misses everything about it. He misses Will’s southern accent. He misses hearing Will ramble about medical stuff he doesn’t even understand. He misses hearing Will’s slow, deep breaths when he has sleepless nights. He misses listening to music when he’s making food for them. He misses watching shows with Will without texting. He misses normal sounds he thought he was so used to and tired of.

He doesn’t notice that Will’s home before he feels strong arms wrap around him. Nico doesn’t even look up as he buries his face in Will’s shirt, sobbing uncontrollably. In the back of his mind, Nico realises that Will is probably confused as to why Nico is crying but he can’t compose himself enough to voice his problem.

He doesn’t realise that he can hear his own breathing before it hits him. He grabs onto Will’s arm and looks up. “I-I can hear my own breathing, Will. I can hear myself breathing.”

Will’s eyes widen and he looks down at Nico, his eyes literally shining with the words _really?_

Nico nods and suddenly he’s overwhelmed by emotions again. He’s smiling and tears are streaming down his face. Then he notices that Will’s crying too and he can’t help but starting to laugh. He can’t hear himself, but with the way Will smiles and starts to laugh too, he’s sure that Will can hear him. It feels good to laugh. All of his worries feel like they are disappearing. And it only makes him laugh more when he realises that nothing since Will came home had made sense at all whatsoever.

It’s moments like these when he truly knows how much he loves Will.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a birthday gift for Theinsindiouscinnamonroll. I might make a part two of this.  
> Come find me on Tumblr: https://winglessvampire.tumblr.com/


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